Raza Payment Plan

I'll be eating chorizo for the next week. My brother's client gave it as a gift yesterday. This isn't the first time. The other day he got bananas and he's received bottles of liquor, pan dulce, cookies, gift baskets with fruit and candy, and a bunch of other stuff.

Getting gifts isn't new. It's been like this all my life. People would take my dad oranges or onions for doing something for them (oranges and onions grow in the valley). I've also seen people receive crazy things like parrots, little chicks or even furniture they made, but that's more rare.

I think we give food because that's what we have. That's what most people have and need. I wonder if it ties in to our need to make sure all people are fed? I always make fun of people taking home "el platillo" from a party, but there's probably a very practical reason as to why we do it without thinking twice.

And yes, sometimes we use products and services as payment instead of cash - because that's the only thing we have. I remember coming home to find all kinds of fish in our freezer one day. A man who owed my dad money went fishing, caught a bunch of fish, and brought them to my family. The debt was paid. My cousin has a new patio because some dudes owed him cash.

Paying with services even extends to municipalities in South Texas. My mom got a ticket for no insurance or something once and couldn't pay the fine. She talked to the judge and offered to work cleaning the court's office for a couple of days. The judge said, ok. It worked.